The company responsible for what is being called the biggest ecological disaster in US history is facing a flood of criticism being spread through social media and there doesn鈥檛 appear to be any end in sight, wrote the Toronto Star June 10 in a story about efforts by the company to redirect Web traffic to its own sites to convey positive messaging about the cleanup effort:
, a marketing professor with the Schulich School of Business at 91亚色, said communicating with consumers through options that appear to cost very little is an important part of BP鈥檚 strategy at this point. 鈥淚f they are seen to be wasting their money on fighting back too hard that is going to trigger a whole new wave of opposition,鈥 said Middleton.
BP has purchased space in newspapers to spread their message, but they are being selective, said Middleton.
鈥淭he trick is you can鈥檛 be seen as spending too much because it is going to result in the very obvious question,鈥 which is why aren鈥檛 you using the funds to improve safety procedures or support fisherman about to lose their livelihoods, he said. At this point the best BP can do is to appear transparent and attempt to moderate what is being said about them online, he said.
BP must be seen as apologetic and responsible but remind consumers there were two other companies involved in the crisis, he said.
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Republished courtesy of YFile鈥 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.